"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

Sunday, 29 March 2015

The Story of Boris

As I have been really busy with other stuff recently I am re-posting this from April 2010.

Boris, left, with his brother.

I had an Uncle who was a rare book dealer. Several years ago, after his father's funeral, my cousin John told me this story.Uncle Ben was interested in Russian literature and was reading a volume of poetry by Boris Pasternak, author of Doctor Zhivago. My grandfather came from Russia in 1906 in the wave of Jewish emigration from that place at that time and, although he spoke good enough English, he never learned to read or write it. He saw the book had a photograph of the author on the back."That's my cousin Boris!" he said. "No, Dad, that's Boris Pasternak" said Uncle Ben, smiling indulgently.Granddad (known to our large family as 'Pop') insisted it was his cousin so Uncle Ben set about researching it. Pasternak's father was an artist of renown and his mother a famous concert pianist. While he was growing up Tolstoy, Scriabin, Rachmaninov and Rilke were regular visitors to the house.His father converted to Christianity and Boris went off to University and Pop never saw him again but he was proved to be right; all of the facts he gave Uncle Ben were verified and it turns out that Bazza's grandfather was Boris Pasternak's first cousin.I think it means that I share about 1.5% of my genes with a Nobel Prize winner. Explains a lot don't you think?

I'm listening to the Dixie Chick's 'Landslide'. I actually prefer it to Fleetwood Mac's original. You can listen here.